The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) who work with millions of employers and employees across the UK to improve workplace relationships found that a staggering 70% of employees were unaware of the changes in law regarding flexible working which came into effect in April 2024. Almost half of employers are also unaware of the changes, with a YouGov poll result showing that 43% had no knowledge of the changes.
From 6th April 2024 employees have the right to ask their employers if they can work flexibly from their first day of employment, and not following 26 weeks of employment, which was previously the case. Employees are also now able to make two requests in any 12-month period instead of one.
Flexible working is a term used describe working arrangements that meet the needs of the employee and employer regarding when, where and how the employee works.
Some flexible working examples include;
Employees now have the legal right to make permanent changes to their employment contract including when, where and how long they work from their first day of employment. They are also able to make two such requests within a 12-month period. Alongside this, employees no longer need to explain or justify the impact of the proposed change to their working arrangements to their employer.
Under the new law employers are now required to respond to a request within two months of receiving it, when previously had three months to do so. They are also required to consult with an employee before they reject a flexible working a request, whereas previously there was no expectation to do this.
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